Edu Iturralde was beside himself. And his anger didn’t even hit the referee Daniel Siebert, who officiated the Champions League game between FC Villarreal and Juventus Turin; Iturralde had been an international referee long enough to know that something could go wrong on the pitch. But this VAR, who is also out Germany came from, this Bastian Dankert from Rostock! “Incredible,” said Iturralde, interpreting the rules for radio station Cadena SER – and punished Dankert. The decision not to intervene is evidence that the VAR has no idea about football, Iturralde said not just analogously, but quite literally.
Well, Iturralde’s thesis was plausible in the light of the images left by Adrien Rabiot’s foul on Villarreal’s Samu Chukwueze in the 70th minute of the first leg of the round of 16. The way the Frenchman, with his leg straight, narrowly missed the knee of Chukwueze’s supporting leg but slammed his studs down hard on the Villarreal midfielder’s thigh, that absolutely deserved red. The foul was so outrageous that it eclipsed – almost – an action that caused much murmuring in the 1-1 draw at Villarreal’s Estadio de la Cerámica. The goal of Dusan Vlahovic.
The Serb, 22, moved from Fiorentina to Turin a few weeks ago, and he is not missed in Florence because Krzysztof Piatek, on loan from Hertha BSC, scored six times in five competitive games. Vlahovic scored 17 goals in just over half a year. The Serb is a knock-kneed Nureyev, with whom one does not know whether he would be better off on a ballet stage than on the lawn. Who is sometimes able to surpass all the hopes of his friends and the fears of his enemies. And they are big. Why didn’t they rub their hands with Europa League winners Villarreal when they were drawn to Juventus! Until the winter transfer window was open and Vlahovic moved to the Juve Arena for 80 million euros, the most expensive winter transfer ever.
With his lightning goal, Vlahovic replaced Andreas Möller as the record holder
Already on his debut he scored against Hellas Verona in Serie A. On Tuesday, it took him 33 seconds to prove why the Spanish newspaper chose him The country as a “psychomotor paradox”. In an article on the sidelines of my doctoral thesis about the nature of footballers’ legs. Bow legs are the rule, Vlahovic’s legs are bent inwards.
Dusan Vlahovic scored Juve’s first goal after a few seconds.
(Photo: Javier Soriano/AFP)
Villarreal had started but a loss in the opponent’s half and a long-hit ball later Vlahovic was there. The Serb controlled the ball with his chest on the edge of the area and then fired with a right before Villarreal centre-backs Raúl Albiol and Pau Torres sorted it out. Goalkeeper Rulli had no chance. Vlahovic, who played his first premier league game, is now the Champions League debutant with the fastest goal. He replaced Andreas Möller. The 1990 World Champion scored after 37 seconds in September 1995 as Borussia Dortmund’s offensive player in the 3-1 draw against Juventus Turin. Roy Makaay scored the fastest Champions League goal ever: in 2007 he scored after seven seconds against Real Madrid for FC Bayern.
“That didn’t scare us,” Unai Emery said happily, because it showed him the maturity of his team. Villarreal took control as Juve staggered deep and equalized through Dani Parejo (66′). Favored by Adrien Rabiot’s first dropout, who forgot that he was supposed to be guarding Parejo and thus jazzed up a positional mistake by Juve’s defense to drama. Parejo, once trained at Real Madrid (and Alfredo Di Stéfano’s favorite player as a youngster), used a pass from Étienne Capoue to the heart of Juve’s penalty area to fire a direct left. “The team not only recovered and balanced, they didn’t settle for that and went for the win,” said Emery.
It wasn’t enough for that, despite a few chances, including Argentinian Giovani Lo Celso putting a ball on the aluminum. On the other hand, Vlahovic almost scored a second goal. Emery also complained, albeit in a moderate tone, the passivity of the video referee, he would have liked to see what would have been possible against ten Turin players. He attested to the field referee Siebert’s good performance. “All chances are open in the second leg,” he said, and that was enough for Emery on Tuesday.
